The Jobs of FFXI - The Better Part of a Decade

[Seraphus]

=====Prologue=====

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Dragon's Aery

The sixth window has just passed. You're alone in dragon's aery with your linkshell. You look around at each other eagerly awaiting the popping of your target, when your LS's main Paladin catches your eye. You check him and you find this: FFXIGEAR.com

What is your first impression on seeing this gear? Do your think your main Paladin is gimp? Confused? Did you find yourself thinking that you would rather have a Warrior tanking for you?

Welcome to 2004. This was the year before many changes struck the face of FFXI. And with this gear; this Paladin in your LS was a God of his time.

=====Intro=====

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This article is intended for a few purposes. Everything from giving newer Players a background of what endgame tanking used to be like, to giving older, seasoned Players something to think back about, and look at how much they have changed.

=====January 2004 (Rise of the Zilart Endgame)=====

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The beginning of many things yet to come. The level cap increased to 75, the synth caps increased, The introduction of Sky, and the introduction of Dynamis and many other Notorious Monsters, that are still fought to this very day.

These were grim times, as a Paladin. These were the times that you didn't use your sword, nor your shield. There was no appropriate haste setup, there was no Auto-Refresh, no Shield Mastery, no enhanced Sentinel. Your Earth Staff or Terra's Staff was the only real means of defense standing between you and the new mobs that SE has cast into your world. You subbed warrior, as a tank, and nothing else.

You may look at how hard some of the older mobs still hit and wonder how people did it back then without subbing Ninja. Two of the more common practices, while straight tanking things as a Paladin, were to either have a Summoner Rotation for a constant flow of Aerial Armor on 2-3 Paladins, or just several out-of-alliance white mages supporting them. During this time, Ninjas held the position as the most desired tank.

=====Chains of Promathia=====

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The first major step toward evolution for Paladin. This was the time that the staff-hugging Paladins finally got to take up arms against mobs wielding their swords and shields. Your shield finally was useful, and was more defensive of a tool than your previous Staff.

Shortly after the coming of the Chains of Promathia Wyrms, the methods of subbing Ninja were finally born, though still difficult for it's time with certain pieces of gear not being as readily available as they are now.

Without much haste gear to choose from in this period of time, here is where Paladins stacked Enmity, and HP. Although some Paladins still chose to stack their VIT gear. This is what an amazingly geared Paladin looked like back then: FFXIGEAR.com

Later throughout the Chains of Promathia expansion pack, there were a few other fights introduced. Apocalypse Nigh, Bahamut V2, and the most important step to Paladin's evolution, the implementation of Limbus. And also in this time, Shield Mastery was created, giving Paladin a TP Bonus on shield blocks, and also giving the shield the ability to prevent spell interruption.

Your Linkshell completely thrived throughout this era, and did very well for you.

Be proud of yourself, this is you , 2 years after the very first real Endgame content was introduced: FFXIGEAR.com

=====Treasures of Aht Urhgan=====

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You now find yourself in Aht Urhgan, a continent of previously un-explored lands, and a plethora of new gear, and new HNMs to tank. Your haste gear has reached its absolute pinnacle with the adding of the Walahra Turban, and your Enmity build stronger with the Macuahuitl+1 The new options for gear from Einherjar, Salvage, and Nyzul have given you an overwhelming amount of items to choose from to suit your needs.

Ares Cuirass, Valhalla Breastplate, Macuahuitl +1, Walahra Turban, Askar, Hauteclaire, Cerberus Mantle, and more.

=====Present Time=====

Here we stand, after the better part of a decade. Miscellaneous updates have taken Paladin to levels which players didn't imagine even in their wildest dreams in the past.

Paladin has been sent from the staff-hugging, VIT/HP stacking laughingstock of a tank it used to be, to being the preferred tank of most linkshells.

We have Enmity Builds
We have Shield Builds

We also have numerous Resist Builds for different situations, such at Citadel Buster, Tiamat, Ouryu, Jormungand, and in Pchan's case, even an INT Build for that leet AV tanking.

But most recently, with the introduction of Atonement several updates ago, we now have the one build that never would have been thought of in the past as a reasonable way to play Paladin. Atonement Melee Idle.


So I ask of you, other players of FFXI. Think back about how long you've played this game? How drastically has your playstyle changed, with all the things that have been introduced? Do you find FFXI to be easier or harder than it used to be? Do you feel that people expect more of your job nowadays, or less?

Let's hear everyone else's thoughts.

[thetruepandagod]

I feel like being able to kill tiamat with pld/war and whm/smn AA rotations is a much bigger accomplishment then most things these days, i feel its easier to play your job at a satisfactory lvl and people expect less but at the same time to be the best of the best there is so much more expected then there was in the past

[Xavier]

Ah, memories.

Particularly enjoyed the Prologue.

[Dem]

Oh my gracious. Those first two photos brought back memories of my first Fafnir, claimed through a cloud of 75 people with Stone 1. I spent most of my FFXI career with tanks sporting one of those two setups, as I left only a few months after ToAU came out. I remember how I was thought to be verifiably insane when I suggested using PLD/NIN tanks on Fafnir. "The wings! The wings!" they said. Needless to say, it took about two Utsusemi casts for them to see the light.

Glorious times, those were.

Edit: Yes, once upon a time a 100 Byne Bill was cause for raucous celebration, and getting 10 drops in Bastok was absolutely insane. Note Ceballos to your left, truly a legend of his time on Unicorn, wielding a... what is that? Long, made of wood... looks like about 80% of an Earth Staff! And Pingstar with his Osode... well, let's not even get into how epic it was to see a NA with one of those.

Spoiler: show

http://i28.tinypic.com/2ns6rlu.jpg

(Sorry for being a 2-post nubsauce, but I still can't get my regular account's password reset Can someone edit this to have the photo show?)

[Aksannyi]

and in Pchan's case, even an INT Build for that leet AV tanking.

L O FUCKING L

Fascinating thread. I am without a doubt the slowest level ever, so while most people were taking their first tentative steps into Promyvion, I was still level 30 on my highest job, barely beginning to touch the advanced job system.

Boy, I remember the day someone told me we could go inside the crags. That was pretty amazing to me.

It's amazing how much has changed, with my main job, though, (WHM) really it's only been recently that a lot of exciting changes have happened, as far as I can tell, with the WHM update. There were a few tweaks here and there, but I can't imagine that WHM was played drastically differently then than it is now, perhaps a lot more conservatively due to not wanting to pull hate. And I remember back when I was leveling WHM, such a thing as "melee WHM" was unheard of.

I love to hear about the way things were way back in the day. The evolution of the game. It makes me nostalgic, reminds me of my first group of friends, who have all quit, sadly.

I haven't really been too anxious about XIV, but I hope it kinda turns out this way, with the playerbase as a whole discovering new things, and aiding in the massive evolution of the game. Seven years from now, in the midst of XIV, will we make a similar thread reminiscing the early days? How drastically it's all changed?

I sure hope so.

[Crizto]

I still think I'm fucking elite when I stack HP gear on PLD! I remember my biggest goal was to reach 2k HP lol

[Rocl]

Fuck yeah I can finally wear full Errant on BLM!

[Belkin]

Good times. My PLD followed that exact pattern.

Turtle > Oh, enmity is good (Even though nobody had a clue as to how it worked) for PLD/NIN > shield and haste gear for macros? BRILLIANT! > melee body for atonement

I remember the days when things were new to NA, especially on Bahamut where NA's lived in the endgame stone age for years. Some of my best memories from the game are from when I didn't have a fucking clue about anything.

Sometimes you just wish you could go back, erase your memory and start all over again.

[The_OG_Nelta]

I think the job that got the most fun taken out of it was BST. Mpk'ing RMT at phantom worm = <3

[miokomioko]

If anything in the title or Prologue, etc. would have said that this was about PLD only, I wouldn't have read it.

[Seraphus]

Hey it had a little bit of summoner in there

[Rocl]

If anything in the title or Prologue, etc. would have said that this was about PLD only, I wouldn't have read it.

Gotta agree "Jobs" is very misleading.

[Aksannyi]

Unless it's going to be a series!

STEP UP SERAPHUS, I WANT A SERIES OF FFXI JOB HISTORY LESSONS, NOW!

[Seraphus]

Unless it's going to be a series!

STEP UP SERAPHUS, I WANT A SERIES OF FFXI JOB HISTORY LESSONS, NOW!

D: I can't speak from every point of view that's why I asked for everyone else's input

[Yugl]

DRG: O Hat, AJ, Tarasque Mitts, Barone Leg, Barone Feet, Foragers, ATT Earring, Assault Earring, Snipers 2x, Swordbelt+1, PCC didn't exist so Merman's Gorget, Colossal Lance, and Pebbles. Done?

[Aksannyi]

You forgot loldrg.

[richardd]

i didnt start this game until after the utsu enmity nerf thing/ranger nerf.

but i would like to see one with sam. didnt they used to be ridill 300 TP saving spirits within DD's onry? lol, like back in the day?

[juilan]

should of said how the whm role changed before the idea of /nin for pld happened
whm and smn were seemingly the same job up until they recently it seems, like 2yrs ago?
after awhile whm/smn were thrown into the AA rotation, and smn was also a back up healer, atleast on siren the idea of predator claw doing dmg didnt come til mid CoP

i can't melee worth mentioning on whm, i have -54 enmity on and four enmity merits, i cure like no one's business haste and do all that stuff like its second nature, am i really missing something from that last whm update? all i seem to of gotten from it was a gimp esuna compared to prior FF games and stoneskin on cure lol, playing since NA release i forget those new things exist and i still do a damn good job from what im told

[Yugl]

You forgot loldrg.

Not if you include our wyvern damage!

[Drai]

Not if you include our wyvern damage!

Multihit WS's returning full TP per hit = Penta Thrust Spam for DRG and SAM o.o those were the days!